What Happens In Vegas
by Sara Wolfe
Summary: Sometimes forever happens when you least expect it.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** This is a Smallville AU, from approximately the end of season three.

**What Happens In Vegas**

**Chapter One**

"Clark, it's been too long."

Clark looked up from the books strewn about him on the grass at the sound of the familiar voice. He smiled at the sight of Lana crossing the expanse of the South Park at Metropolis University. Standing, he held his arms out as she rushed into his embrace, wrapping her arms around his waist in a tight hug. She gave an involuntary squeak of surprise when he hugged her back hard enough to lift her straight off the ground.

"Clark, put me down!" Lana yelped, laughing, and Clark swung her around in the air before placing her back on her feet.

"How was Paris?" Clark asked, as Lana brushed her flyaway hair back behind her ears.

"Paris was wonderful," Lana told him. "I learned so much at the Art Institute."

"Does that mean that Smallville will soon be hosting Lana Lang's first gallery opening?" Clark asked, a gently teasing tone in his voice.

"Oh, I'm not ready for that," Lana insisted, quickly. "But, I do have something big I want to talk to you about."

"There's something I wanted to talk to you about, too," Clark replied, fingering the small box that he'd been carrying around in his pocket for the last couple of weeks. "But, you should go first."

"Oh, no," Lana said, her eyes darting from side to side as she suddenly couldn't look Clark in the eye. "You go ahead."

"Okay," Clark agreed, easily, still smiling, although Lana's sudden evasiveness made him feel uneasy. "You've seen all those news stories about the new hero in Metropolis, the one everyone's been calling Superman?"

"Of course I have," Lana said. "I even got to see him in Paris. He was diffusing a bomb on the Eiffel Tower."

"I know," Clark told her. At Lana's quizzical look, he elaborated, "That's what I wanted to talk to you about."

Glancing furtively around to make sure that no one was paying any attention to them, he unbuttoned the first few buttons of his shirt and pulled it open, hearing Lana's astonished gasp.

"You're Superman?" she breathed, almost reverentially, reaching out to brush the bright blue suit hidden under his regular clothes. "How long?"

"About a year," Clark told her. "Right about the time I decided to major in Journalism, actually."

"And right after I left for school in Paris," Lana finished, a rueful smile gracing her features. "I always knew I'd been holding you back, somehow."

"Lana, no," Clark interjected, quickly, but Lana shook her head, silencing him.

"You and I both know that you'd have been flying a long time ago if I hadn't been tying you to the ground," Lana said, matter-of-factly. "Going away to Paris, getting away from us, may have been for the best for both of us."

"What do you mean?" Clark asked, confused.

"It gave me time to grow up," Lana explained. "Gave me time to find out who I really am."

"Actually, our year apart gave me some time to think, too," Clark told her. "I thought a lot about us, and there was something I wanted to ask you, Lana."

"Clark, I've been seeing Lex," Lana blurted out, suddenly, and the ring box that Clark had taken out of his pocket fell from his suddenly-nerveless fingers to hit the ground. Neither of them noticed.

"Lex?" Clark echoed, stunned. "Lex Luthor?" he repeated, skeptically, even though there was no one else that Lana could have been referring to.

"Ever since Lex gave up his campaign for State Senator, he's been a whole new person," Lana told him, earnestly. "He told me that conceding the race to your father, even if it meant getting disowned by Lionel, was the best decision he'd ever made."

"How – how long have you two been seeing each other?" Clark asked, feeling numbness settle over him as Lana's revelation sank in.

"Almost a year," Lana admitted, and the shock of hearing that Lana had essentially been lying to him since she left hit him hard. "Lex went to Paris to get away from his father's influence," she added, but Clark barely heard her.

"A year," he repeated, stunned. "You couldn't call and tell me that things were over between us?"

"I didn't know how," Lana said, tears in her eyes.

"We talked almost every week!" Clark exploded, suddenly furious with the young woman standing before him. "Every time you called me, you lied to me."

"I didn't want to hurt you," Lana tried to explain.

"Well, you failed at that," Clark said, bitterly. "How could you not tell me that you and Lex have been dating for a year?"

"We're engaged, actually," Lana said, her voice small, her words a knife into Clark's heart. "Lex asked me to marry him," she added, apologetically, seeing the hurt expression on his face. "I said yes."

Clark nodded, unable to say anything in response. There wasn't anything really that he could say.

"I'm so sorry, Clark," Lana said, tearfully. "I never wanted to hurt you like this."

Clark sighed, knowing she was telling the truth. For all that she was an incredibly giving person, when it came to matters of the heart, Lana seemed to have a blind spot for how her actions affected other people. And Clark had a hard time staying mad at her when he'd known all along that she was that way; it was how they'd gotten together after Lana had broken up with Whitney.

"We're thinking that we're going to stay in Smallville," Lana said, rushing to fill the silence. "Metropolis is so expensive, and it would be nice to raise a family in a place that feels like home."

"Right," Clark said, tonelessly, as he watched his dreams crumble to dust before his eyes.

"I won't tell anyone your secret, if that's what you're worried about," Lana hastened to reassure him, but Clark shook his head.

"I told you my secret because I trust you," Clark told her. "That doesn't change just because we're not dating, anymore."

"You'll find someone really great," Lana told him, eagerly, as they lapsed into an awkward silence, again. "Someone really special, who's just perfect for you."

Clark only nodded, again, figuring that she was only trying to make him feel better. Stooping, he snatched the ring box off the grass and shoved it back into his pocket, gathering his books into his arms. He brushed his lips across Lana's cheek in a quick kiss, forcing himself to ignore the fresh onslaught of tears that glittered in her eyes.

"Have a good life, Lana," he wished her, and then he turned and walked away.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

"You're not really going to sit up in this loft moping the entire time you're home, are you?"

Clark looked up at the sound of his best friend's voice and gave Pete a wan smile as the other man came up the stairs.

"I'm not moping," he protested, automatically, and Pete rolled his eyes.

"Right," he said, skeptically, dragging the word out. "So, what do you call sitting up here staring at the wall?"

"I'm thinking about life," Clark said, and Pete shook his head in exasperation.

"Is he done moping, yet?" a voice called out, and then Chloe dashed up the stairs to stand behind Pete.

"I'm not moping," Clark insisted.

"Well, Mr.–I'm–not–moping, move your butt," Chloe said, sternly. "We're not going to celebrate your birthday without the birthday boy."

"You guys didn't go behind my back and plan a surprise party, did you?" Clark asked, suspiciously. "'Cause I distinctly remember telling you no surprise parties."

"There's no surprise party," Pete said.

"Besides," Chloe spoke up, "who would we surprise you with? Your entire social circle is us and your parents. Which is kind of sad when you think about it.

"This is supposed to be cheering me up?" Clark wondered, and Pete grinned, slinging an arm around his friend's shoulders as they descended the stairs from the loft.

"I think Chloe is trying to say that you need to get out more," Pete told him.

"Yeah, well, I've got obligations that are keeping me tied to Smallville and Metropolis for the foreseeable future," Clark argued, thinking about the Superman suits hidden in the back of his closet.

"Your parents can handle the farm," Pete shot back, misinterpreting his words. "They've been doing it for years."

"And Met U's on a two-week break," Chloe added, cheerfully.

"Fine," Clark relented. "I suppose you two have the rest of my vacation planned out for me?"

"Happy twenty-first birthday, buddy," Pete said, producing a piece of paper with a flourish.

"Vegas?" Clark said, skeptically, reading the destination on the plane ticket.

"Who's going to Vegas?" Jonathon asked, overhearing him as they walked through the door leading to the kitchen.

"I am, apparently," Clark told him, brandishing the plane ticket. "Pete and Chloe are kidnapping me for the rest of my break."

"Good luck with that, you two," Jonathon said to the co-conspirators.

"Aren't you supposed to be on my side?" Clark asked, feeling a little insulted that his dad was apparently ganging up on him with his best friends.

"I think a trip to Vegas would be good for you," Martha spoke up, and Clark threw his hands up in defeat.

"Fine," he grumbled, heaving a sigh. "Vegas, here we come."

**XXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX**

"The answer is no, Lane."

Lois froze just inside the doorway of the office of the Daily Planet's Editor in Chief. Shutting the door behind her, she glared at the man sitting behind the desk.

"You haven't even heard what I was going to say," she accused.

Looking up from the mock-up on his desk, Perry White steepled his fingers and gave Lois his full attention.

"All right," he said, agreeably. "I'm listening."

"There's this strip club out in Vegas," Lois began.

"No," Perry interjected, cutting her off.

"Would you just listen to me?" Lois gritted out through clenched teeth.

"Sorry," Perry said, shooting her a completely insincere smile. "Do go on."

"Strippers out in Vegas are being murdered and the police are baffled," Lois said, getting straight to the point.

"And you want me to sent you to Vegas where you can go undercover and make yourself a target for some serial killer," Perry said.

"Exactly," Lois said, and Perry shook his head.

"Forget it," he told her, succinctly, and Lois glared at him.

"There's a story, here, Perry," she insisted.

"There's also a chance for you to get yourself killed," Perry replied, unruffled by her intensity.

"Weren't you the one who said that we had to give everything for a story?" Lois retorted. "I'm not risking anything more than with that drug running story."

"I don't remember authorizing you to cover that story, either," Perry reminded her, and Lois shrugged.

"Semantics," she dismissed, easily.

"You see these gray hairs?" Perry accused, tapping his temple. "Guess how many of them you've caused me to have."

"That just means that I'm doing my job right," Lois said, confidently. "Come on, Perry," she wheedled, a moment later. "You know I'm the best person to cover this story."

"You're not the only reporter I could send," Perry threatened, and Lois snorted out a laugh.

"Who are you going to send?" she demanded. "Lombard? He'd look real cute in a miniskirt."

"Thank you for that visual," Perry grumbled, and Lois gave him an innocent smile.

"I'm the only one that you could conceivably send," Lois argued, stubbornly. "If you want the Planet to get the scoop on this story, then I need to be on a plane leaving for Vegas, now."

"Fine," Perry capitulated, after a long moment, and Lois grinned in triumph. "But on one condition," he added, as Lois headed for the door of his office.

"What condition?" she asked, warily.

"Take Olsen with you," Perry told her, and Lois immediately shook her head.

"Jimmy?" she repeated, incredulously. "No offense, Chief, but Jimmy couldn't fight his way out of a paper bag. What kind of backup is he supposed to provide?"

"Take Olsen or you're not going," Perry threatened, and Lois glared at him.

"Fine," she grumbled. "I'll take Jimmy with me."

Leaving the Chief's office, she headed back to her own desk, picking up the phone and dialing the airport.

"Did you get an approval for the story?" Jimmy asked, from where he was sitting at his own desk, while she was waiting for someone to pick up.

Lois shushed him with an abrupt wave of her hand as someone came onto the line.

"I need two tickets to Vegas," she told the person on the other end. "Soonest flight out."

A few minutes later she finished the arrangements and hung up, seeing Jimmy looking at her from across the bullpen.

"I guess you got the story," he commented. "But, why two tickets?"

"You're coming with me," Lois told him, and Jimmy's eyebrows flew up in surprise.

"I get to go to Vegas?" Jimmy asked, a wide grin breaking out over his face. Lois rolled her eyes in exasperation.

"If I have to drag you out of one casino when we're supposed to be working," she threatened, but Jimmy ignored her in favor of breaking out into an off-key rendition of "Viva Las Vegas".

"This is going to be a long trip," Lois muttered under her breath.


End file.
